The co-translator, with his brother Thomas Cleary, of such works as The Blue Cliff Record and Zen Letters, J.C. Cleary here introduces and translates a selection of Zen lessons from four teachers in four successive generations. Hengchuan, Gulin, Zhuxian, and Daian spanned the turbulent period in Chinese history from the last generation of the Song dynasty (overthrown by the Mongols in 1279) to the first generation of the Ming dynasty (which drove out the Mongols, and proclaimed its own reign in 1368). These masters were all eminent public teachers, and their words not only reflect the state of the art of Zen teaching in their time, they remain vivid and relevant for our own turbulent age.